MLB declines to fly World Baseball Classic flags at half-staff for Chavez

Venezuelan team request for mark of respect for president Hugo Chavez at World Baseball Classic warm-up is declined by MLB and Miami Marlins

Venezuela outfielder Gerardo Parra and outfielder Carlos Gonzalez as the Venezuelan national anthem is played before a World Baseball Classic warm-up game against the Miami Marlins, Tuesday, March 5, 2013, in Jupiter, Fla. Photograph: Julio Cortez/AP

The Venezuelan World Baseball Classic team were told that the flags would not be flown at half-staff for Hugo Chavez at their game in Miami.

The Venezuela team requested a pre-game moment of silence for Chavez and asked that flags be flown at half-mast for their World Baseball Classic warm-up game against the Miami Marlins.

But a spokesman said the Miami Marlins, Major League Baseball and Roger Dean Stadium were not prepared to allow it.

"There are things we can't control," said pitcher Carlos Zambrano. "For the respect of Venezuela, they have to do something before the first game against the Dominican Republic (at the WBC in Puerto Rico)."

Venezuela's baseball team was taking pregame batting practice when players heard the news that president Chavez had died.

"He was a baseball man," manager Luis Sojo said after a 6-5 loss to the Miami Marlins in a warm up game for the World Baseball Classic. "At the World Baseball Classic in 2006 and 2009, the first call in the morning was his. And after the game, he used to call me, too. It's a very sad moment for our country. We wish the best to his family, we know they are going through a tough time right now."

Chavez died Tuesday at age 58 after a nearly two-year fight against cancer.

"I don't know how his family is right now. He's no longer with us it's very sad. I cannot comment a lot on it because I feel a lot of pain, and I'm not there in Venezuela."

Pitcher Carlos Zambrano said he hoped his fellow Venezuelans would come together.

"I'm very sad. I ask that the Venezuela people stay calm," Zambrano said. "We have to understand that the president had a family. He's a human being and it's sad. We send him the condolences to the Chavez family. We know it's a difficult moment. This caught us by surprise."

Some players did not want to discuss Chavez's death. Pitcher Anibal Sanchez and third baseman Pablo Sandoval both declined when asked to comment.

In this March 1972 photo Hugo Chavez, bottom row, right, poses with his baseball teammates during the internal games at the Military Academy in Caracas, Venezuela. Photograph: AP